My Top 10 End of The World Novels List Is Now On TopTenz.net

It has been a long time since I actually got paid to write something. A decade ago I was an aspiring mystery writer who actually had a contract with a small publisher for a private eye novel I wrote. During that period, I also managed to sell a short story to a dead tree mystery magazine (now long defunct) and had a short lived regular column about assassinations for the same magazine. When the publisher went out of business before my novel came out, I became frustrated and didn't take up writing as a hobby regularly again until I started this gig.

So I was quite pleased when the website TopTez.net picked up my submission of an article I did for them consolidating the End of the World novels list I posted here at TDS last June. And the best part is, they actually PAID me.

So in case you're interested some tips concerning quality apocalyptic fiction to pass the time while we wait for things to wind down in meat space, here's the link to the article:

Top 10 End of the World Novels

Enjoy!


Bonus: But of course

Mr. Paperback Bookstore Chain (Maine) To Close

I've covered the travails of the publishing and retail book industries here enough times that I really don't feel like rehashing it again. Here is the latest such sad news, from the Bangor Daily News:

Mr. Paperback, a bookstore chain that has been a fixture in Maine for 50 years, will be closing and its sister company, Magazines Inc., will be bought out, an owner of the companies said Friday.

Mr. Paperback’s 80 employees and Magazines Inc.’s 40 employees will be laid off, co-owner Penny Robichaud said. The companies notified their staffs on Wednesday.

“Business is not great. It seemed like it might be a good time to get out,” said Mr. Paperback General Manager Jim McCree. Both companies will cease operation by the end of April.

Mr. Paperback has 10 stores in Maine, with locations in Augusta, Bangor, Belfast, Caribou, Dover-Foxcroft, Ellsworth, Farmington, Presque Isle, Skowhegan and Waterville.

Magazines Inc., which distributes magazines and newspapers in the state, is based in Bangor.

Mr. Paperback and Magazines Inc. are separate companies, but are owned by the Foss family — Robichaud and her siblings Ralph Foss and Pamela Williams.

Robichaud said they are still in negotiations to sell Magazines Inc. to Hudson LLC., based in Worcester, Mass. The company would take over Magazines Inc.’s clients, and move distribution to a Gorham facility. Hudson LLC has no interest in taking over Mr. Paperback, she said, so the bookstores will be liquidated.

“We’re all just wrapping our heads around this this week,” said Robichaud.

“It’s painful,” said McCree. “Over the years we’ve had an extremely dedicated staff — smart people, faithful people. I can tell you it’s been extremely hard on the Foss family.”

A sad tale, indeed. But check out one of the reasons cited for the closures:

Robichaud said changes in the book industry and finances were the reasons for closing.

“It’s due to gas prices and a changing industry — Amazon, the Internet, Kindle — people don’t need the printed materials as much as we used to,” said Robichaud.

“Most of us know that the book business and anything in print is not a particularly healthy place to be,” McCree added.

There it is--gas prices. Sure there are strong headwinds in the industry from those other factors, but somehow I'll be that bookstores would not be shutting down with quite such rapidity if gas were still $1.30 a gallon. Call it a hunch.


Bonus: Terry Tate sez, "reading is fundamental." And you better listen to him, sucka

Christine O'Donnell Used Super PAC Money to Buy Copies of Her Own Book

Now here is a story guaranteed to make any thinking person's head hurt. Failed Delaware Senate candidate Christine "I am not a witch" O'Donnell, the most hilariously inept candidate for major office in recent memory (and that is saying a LOT), not only has her very own super PAC but has used it to buy copies of her own book. Here is Talking Points Memo with the details:

She may, famously, not be a witch, but here’s a bit of money magic from former Delaware Republican Senate candidate and recent Mitt Romney endorser Christine O’Donnell: her political campaign gave $142,000 to her super PAC, which proceeded to buy copies of her book.

Federal Election Commission reports filed by her campaign and super PAC this week show that the money her campaign gave to her super PAC represents just under 62 percent of the $229,985 the PAC took in during 2011. $19,912.30 of that money went towards an August 20th purchase labeled “PAC Fundraising Non-Residual Books” from a book shop in Philadelphia.

O’Donnell’s book, “Troublemaker,” had a list price of $25.99. If the books were purchased at that price, the campaign would have gotten around 766 copies. It’s unclear how all those copies were used for fundraising purposes since O’Donnell only received contributions from 16 individuals in the second half of the year. If all of them received a copy, she would have 750 copies of the book on hand.

Despite extensive media coverage of her book launch, “Troublemaker” failed to fly off the shelves, as Slate’s Dave Weigel pointed out back in August. The book only sold 2,000 copies in the first two weeks it was out. It’s unclear if the copies O’Donnell purchased counted during that period counted towards the total. But even if the super PAC only got a slight discount off the cover price, her super PAC would have purchased over half of the books sold in the first few weeks. If they bought them at the current Amazon price of $14.32, the PAC could have purchased 1,390 copies.

You'll recall that back when her hideous tome was released, O'Donnell managed to briefly reemerge into the headlines when she stormed off the set of an interview with CNN's Piers Morgan because the latter was asking her questions about witchcraft and sex. In my August 20th post of last year, "Why is CNN Still Interviewing Christine O’Donnell?" I questioned why CNN would give airtime to a such a total political loser. And given the completely lackluster sales figures from her book, that question is even more valid.

Some will also no doubt be outraged that O'Donnell can get away with using campaign funds to so transparently enrich herself. But that doesn't bother me as much as wondering just who it is that is so brain addled yet can still afford to donate over 200 Large to Christine O'Donnell the year AFTER she lost her Senate race by a landslide?


Bonus: "Hey little girl, you want it all. The furs, the diamonds, the paintings on the wall"

Like the Blog? Buy the Book!

I've got a very special announcement to make. Thanks to the miracle of modern self publishing and print on demand, The Downward Spiral is now available in book form. As a frustrated mystery novelist, it was always my dream to have my own book published, though I never imagined it would happen in quite this way.

The format for the book is really quite simple. I took about 200 of the best posts from TDS for 2011, put them all into a manuscript and divided them into ten chapters by subject matter with a short introduction. The book also includes my highly popular Top 10 End of the World novels list and ends with the original eponymous short story that inspired the blog.

I really have no idea if anyone out there is willing to buy such a book. Some would say that taking information that I have provided for free online and putting it up for sale in dead tree form shows how out of touch I am with the way things are these days. But I'm not really looking to make a profit here. In fact, if I earn just enough money to recoup my very modest costs for this project (and perhaps buy a case or two of good German beer) I'll be satisfied.

I've mentioned before that I refuse to turn on Google ads for this blog because of how the real Bill Hicks felt about marketing, and I don't ask for donations because I don't really need the money. But if you've enjoyed the blog and have wanted to show your appreciation, this is your chance. Heck, maybe you even know someone who is just waking up and for whom The Downward Spiral might make a great gift!

The price is set at $11.99 on Amazon, which leaves me about a $2 royalty per copy. For that you get 312 pages and about 95,000 words of TDS goodness. And the best part is, the copies of the book are printed right here in the good ol' USA (South Carolina, specifically), so I'm putting my money where my mouth is in terms of trying to support American jobs.

Anyway, if you are of a mindset, the book is available at the link below, or on the permanent link I've placed in the right column just below the page views counter. Once again, thank you for reading.

Buy it in Amazon!

Book Store Blues

I've covered the rapid demise of America's brick-and-mortar bookstores several times here at TDS. Booksellers are now disappearing so fast that I wonder how long it will be before they vanish from the landscape altogether. It struck home for me again this past Sunday when, passing by my favorite Northern Virginia used bookstore, I was dismayed to see a big Going Out of Business banner hanging in the front window. I've been regular visitor to that particular store ever since it first opened in 1994, and most of the staff have worked there for many years. And now, just like that, poof--gone.

It shook me up enough that I decided to drive on over to the Barnes & Nobel location that is nearest to my house. I've never been a big fan of B&N because of how the chain drove so many mom-and-pop bookstores out of business, but other than the remaining used bookstores, they are about all that is left in Northern Virginia these days.

I hadn't been there in about six months, so I was very much relieved to see it was still open and actually had quite a few cars outside in the parking lot. When I went inside, however, there were changes afoot. Immediately inside the front door, right where the featured new releases used to be on display, was a brand new information booth where you could learn all about the Nook, and even take one of about a dozen display models for a test drive. Reacting as if a diamondback rattlesnake had just slithered into my path, I avoided eye contact with the two young salesgirls behind the counter and skirted around it as quickly as I could.

To my dismay, however, that wasn't the only change to the store. Literally about half of the space that used to contain books now no longer does. Instead, shelf after shelf was filled with toys and games and other useless crap that has absolutely nothing to do with actually reading. The non-fiction New Arrivals section had maybe a couple of dozen titles, whereas it used to occupy several bookcases and could take me a hour alone to browse through. The physical quality of the books that were present also appeared to have declined. The bindings these days are cheap, and even the hardbacks look they'll start to fall apart in just a few years.

Another distressing thing I noticed was just how shitty many of the titles were that were actually on the shelves. Celebrity biographies, teen vampire nonsense, self-help clap trap, romance novels and guides to spiritual living by teevee preachers seemed to be everywhere I looked, while serious works of either fiction or non fiction were in very short supply. Fittingly, in the bargain section there was one lonely copy of a cheapo hardback collection of reprinted classic short apocalyptic fiction stories that I almost bought just because of how perfectly apprpriate it looked sitting there on the shelf.

In the end, I merely grabbed a couple of deeply discounted titles because of how little there was that I actually wanted to read. The checkout clerk was a young guy probably not long out of college who was cheerful enough, considering, but when he asked me if I had a Barnes & Nobel membership card I had to restrain myself to keep from bursting out in a cynical cackle. No, I wanted say, but I'm good. I figure it's about a 50-50 chance at this point that your store will even still be here a year from now. Perhaps he knew what I was thinking, because when I merely said I did not have membership card, he didn't try to push one on me.

By the time I got home I was depressed. Despite what I write on this blog every day about America falling apart, I just can't imagine living in a world without bookstores. Sadly, that day is coming very soon. In fact, other than maybe making an occasional special trip to one of the two remaining independent booksellers down in the District of Columbia, visiting the bookstore has already almost become just a memory for me. It sucks.

Why are we as a culture in such a goddamned hurry to get rid of our physical books and replace them with these damn electronic readers? It's bad enough that the lingering effects of the recession were already killing the publishing industry.

You can't call it "progress," because that is complete and utter bullshit. We're maybe 20 years or so at best from the power grid breaking down on a widespread basis. So what happens to all those e-books then? They'll disappear into the ether, that's what. It's madness. But that's where we are as a culture these days.